Tim Robson

Writing, ranting, drinking and dating. Ancient Rome. Whatever I damn well feel is good to write about.

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Gas (1940)

Gas (1940)

Into the Hopper

Battersea Arts Centre
September 20, 2016 by Tim Robson in Art, USA
“Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.”
— Edward Hopper

Although my writing often uses allusion and metaphor my most common technique is reference. The deliberate triggering of emotion or intellect by forms of words and experiences with which the reader may be familiar, perhaps unknowingly.  Sometimes my references pass people by, but they are there, hidden beneath the surface, like buried treasures. Music, films, history, ancient texts, The Bible nestle side-by-side. My prose is deceptively simple but is buttressed by those that went before.

Visually, I'm quite literal. I could be dismissed - and often am - as hating all art that doesn't have a semblance of reality. But this literalism can hide artifice and subtext (pre-Raphaelites, anyone?). The framing, the subject, the angle, the deliberate manipulation of scene, emotion and place that an artist consciously puts into a painting is as important as the form.*

So, in this spirit, let me introduce my favourite artist, Edward Hopper. In my lounge, along with framed LP covers, two Hoppers hang, facing each other. On one wall is:-

New York Movie Theatre (1939)

New York Movie Theatre (1939)

This is faced by:-

Nighthawks (1942)

Nighthawks (1942)

Within these two you get pretty much quintessential Hopper. The very strong sense of place, mood, of images being presented full on but still hiding much. I mean, what is the usherette thinking in the Movie Theatre picture? But also, it reveals the human element behind life which I like. It's the deliberate panning back in order to highlight the trivial. All life is affected by mood, emotion, secrets. There is surface and there is stuff going on underneath. Hopper is about these things. It's not happy.

So Hopper is a realist but his paintings always convey a mood, hint at a story, scratch the surface of deep emotions. These are the sorts of paintings where you can sit in front of them in an art gallery, scratch your chin and speculate on what the artist meant. 'Gas' pictured above is very much like this. A solitary garage on a little used road, closes for the night as the shadows from the evening and the forest close in.  It's lonely, suggestive, oppressive even,

Let me give you a couple more favourites:

Automat (1927)

Automat (1927)

I suppose an early fore-runner of Nighthawks. Who is she? Why is she on her own? Questions. Questions.

Cape Cod Evening (1939)

Cape Cod Evening (1939)

The grass, the sinister trees again. The man and woman pensive (argument, loss, waiting something), the dog!

But I've entertained you enough, I feel. Hopper's my man with the brushes. But it's a personal thing. Shared by millions.

So long, farewell, auf weidersehn.

Tim

 

* I could bore for Britain on my views of the duty of the artist. Or the freewill of the artist. How selection and viewpoint is as much a part of the artistic palette as skill, technique, form. But also serendipity.

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RIP Charmain Carr who died this week. Remember her this way. I think somewhere we're all 16 going on 17.

September 20, 2016 /Tim Robson
Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, Gas, New York Movie Theatre
Art, USA
Automat, 1927 Edward Hopper. Yeah. Hopper knows. Listening to The Smiths probably.

Automat, 1927 Edward Hopper. Yeah. Hopper knows. Listening to The Smiths probably.

Sad Songs Say So Much

August 30, 2016 by Tim Robson in Music

Often we are sad. Things don't work out or we feel nostalgic for a past that was probably every bit as melancholy. So, what music to play? To feel sad? To get music to match the melancholic mood? Classical? Rock? Pop? Bossanova? Well, all of the above.

Debussy - The girl with the Flaxen Hair. Beautiful, sad, melancholic. Fading beauty, pale shadows, misty memories, dawn tears. I love this piece.

The Smiths - Please, please, please let me get what I want. The Smiths. Morrissey. Hero of many a lonely bedsit. The first and the best Smiths miserable songs. Oh how I used to put this on repeat!

Guns n Roses - November Rain - Sad. Sad. The shining flame that was GnR came up with a handful of classics but this one... Man... I remember 1991/2. I lived it. Everything was raw. Real. First time. Beautiful song.

Blur - Miss America. My secret. 1994. That was a year!

A-ha - You'll Never Get Over Me. From their flawless comeback album - Major Sky, Minor Earth. Beautiful. From the masters of melancholy a late career fightback. Check out the counterpoint melody.

Abba - The Winner Takes it All. Fuck this is sad. The best Abba song for sadness. The way Agneta says 'but you see' and then holds that high note on the last chorus just breaks your heart. One of my top ten records ever.

Van Morrison - Beside You. Well, I've mentioned this already. Just perfect. Fucking perfect. If you want to blub and think about what might have been and what used to be, then this is your song. Perfection.

The Eurythmics - Savage. I've written a full blog post on this song. It breaths. Annie is always the master of melancholy. But the guitar solo! Less is more. Stunning.... Yeah... Let's move on!

Elgar - Nimrod. Yeah, I've already mentioned this but, when I'm feeling sad - the power, the majesty and uplift of this piece always makes me feel better. Shake the house with this one and shake away the blues!

Everything but the Girl - On My Mind. Before they were famous... Private. Memories... A story told a thousand times but never with a happy ending. A different era. Different times. See the video below.

Elton John - Sad Songs. Not his best song but - hell - Bernie describes this feeling of sadness so perfectly! A more authentic song would be Sacrifice. I used to play this in a studio only group in 1994. Happy memories. Things mattered. Ultimately, we didn't.

Dry your tears. Tomorrow can always be better!

Tim

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August 30, 2016 /Tim Robson
Songs, Edward Hopper, Van Morrison, Debussy
Music

Didn't know I could edit this!